This Good Skate Performs Daring Stunts

How does a skater train for jumping through flaming hoops and over women draped over several barrels?

Very carefully.

So says Nick Maricich, one of the star skaters in Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom On Ice, which opens tomorrow at Stabler Arena and continues for 10 performances through Sunday.

"If I miss, it can be pretty dangerous, especially with the girls lying over the tops of the barrels," said Maricich, who jumps over 10 barrels - with women draped over them - as part of the Disney ice extravaganza, an all-new show arriving today in the Lehigh Valley featuring Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy and Pluto.

Star of the ice show is Linda Fratianne, Olympic silver medalist and two- time world champion, who appears in two skating sequences. The show, produced by Irvin and Kenneth Feld, has a story which centers around Disney World, the Florida theme park.

This is Maricich's first year with the Disney show, although he previously skated in the Holiday on Ice and Ice Follies shows. But Maricich, 26, is no newcomer to the world of high speed and precision ice skating.

His father, Herman Maricich, a world-renowned barrel-jumper, had young Nick on skates at 2. He was speed skating at 8 and was in shows at 10.

The elder Maricich runs a family ski resort at their home base in Sun Valley, Idaho, where he also instructs skaters and presents an annual show. A sister, Maria, is rated the top downhill skier in America and, according to Maricich, is assured of a berth on the Olympic team.

Maricich was a downhill skier himself, chosen for the U.S. Developmental Skiing Team, competing in the Can-Am races and winning a skiing scholarship to the University of Utah. He turned professional and placed first in his first international race. At 20, he returned to stunt skating.

"It's really a thrill and kind of a joy," Maricich said of his skating career. "It's gratifying to go out and perform in front of 12,000 people and get their applause and reaction and smiles. It really gives you a good feeling. It's also fun and exciting out there. It all comes pretty quickly."

Show skating is also very tiring. With the Disney show, Maricich performs two shows a day, 11 shows a week, six days a week, 43 weeks a year in tours across America and Canada.

"It becomes a matter of 'How do you get enough rest?' If I have a problem with a trick . . . And sometimes that happens pr . . . You get out there and practice it and get it right."

When he's preparing for a show, he says he works out eight hours a day. During the summer, he lifts weights. His hobbies of backpacking, hiking and mountain climbing also keep him in shape.

Diet is also an important part of the regimen. Though he likes to eat a steak a week, Maricich says that it's difficult to get good food on the road. He usually lunches around 5 p.m. and then takes a nap before the show. Afterwards, he limits himself to yogurt or fruit. He supplements his diet with a daily multi-vitamin.

But the most important aspect of show skating, Maricich said, is mental preparedness:

"If you're not quite ready, you make yourself ready. You get warmed up doing sit-ups and push-ups. Because, if you get out there and know you're not feeling good, you're in trouble. You have to stay calm and loose."

To help him relax, Maricich practices yoga regularly, with emphasis on the lower back and hamstrings.

Another factor, though, and one beyond Maricich's control, is the condition of the ice.

"The ice is critical. It can get mushy, which happens when the building gets warm. A big crowd will heat up a building a lot. With speed skating it can be dangerous, too. The edges will hook.

"Skating is a show performance but it's athletic as well. You sometimes have to take a little bit out of the performance and put it into the concentration."

In the Disney show, Maricich barrel jumps in the role of Computer Knight during the Tomorrowland Tron arcade scene. He races around the rink at nearly 40 miles per hour and launches himself about 10 feet in the air. Eight feet in the air, he does a Russian split.

Maricich also performs as Long John Skater, atop three-foot stilts. It's a skill his father first pioneered.

"My dad did stilts. It hasn't been done for about 15 years. I think my dad was the first to do it. He built the stilts himself."

Maricich said that to learn barrel-jumping, he began by jumping over four or five barrels and working up. To learn how to jump through flaming hoops, Maricich said he first jumped through hoops without fire.

"I took a number of nasty falls learning how to do that," he recalled.

Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom On Ice will be presented today through Sunday (Jan. 8)at Stabler Arena, Lehigh University. Tickets are available at Ticketron or at the Stabler box office. Group rates are available. For more information, call 867-0282.